1. Field of the Disclosure
The Present Disclosure relates, generally, to a board-to-board connector, and, more particularly, to a board-to-board connector having such a configuration that when a fitting face of a first housing of a first connector is even with a fitting face of a second housing of a second connector, first terminals of the first connector are spaced apart from second terminals of the second connector, so that when the fitting face of the first housing is brought to slide on the fitting face of the second housing during the fitting operation, the first terminals do not make abutting contact with the second terminals, thereby preventing damage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Board-to-board connectors are typically used to couple pairs of parallel circuit boards with each other. Such connectors are attached, by fitting, to respective opposing surfaces of the circuit boards so that the boards are electrically connected to each other. An example of such a board-to-bard connector may be illustrated in Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-084795.
Additionally, FIG. 12 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional board-to-board connector. In FIG. 12, first housing 811 houses a first connector mounted in first circuit board 891, and second housing 911 houses a second connector mounted in second circuit board 991. When the first and second connectors are engaged together by fitting, first circuit board 891 and second circuit board 991 are electrically connected to each other.
First housing 811 is provided with concave hollow portion 812, in which plurality of first terminals 861 are mounted. Each first terminal 861 is provided with tail portion 862, soldered to a connection pad of first circuit board 891, first contact portion 864 and second contact portion 865—configured to make contact with second terminal 961 of the second connector. Similarly, plurality of second terminals 961 is mounted in second housing 911. Each second terminal 961 is provided with tail portion 962, soldered to a connection pad of second circuit board 991, and contact portion 964—configured to make contact with first terminal 861 of the first connector.
Further, second housing 911 is formed with convex insertion portions 912 at longitudinally spaced both ends thereof, and first housing 811 is formed with projecting portions 822 at longitudinally spaced both ends thereof. When the first and second connectors are engaged together, convex insertion portion 912 is received in concave portions formed in projecting portion 822, so that the positioning between the first and second connectors is achieved. Moreover, one tapered portion is formed in an entrance corner portion of the concave portion formed in projecting portion 822, and another is also formed in a front corner portion of convex insertion portion 912. Therefore, convex insertion portion 912 can be smoothly guided to fit into the concave portion of projecting portion 822, thereby making it easy to perform the positioning between the first and second connectors.
However, in the conventional board-to-board connector, since first terminals 861 and second terminals 961 rub against each other during the fitting operation, first terminals 861 and the second terminals 961 might be damaged. When the first and second connectors are engaged together, since they are respectively mounted on surfaces of first circuit board 891 and second circuit board 991, which have large cross-sectional areas, oftentimes, an operator may be requested to perform the fitting operation while being unable to visually recognize a fitting face of first housing 811 and a fitting face of second housing 911. In such a case, the operator may adjust the position of second housing 911 relative to first housing 811 by mutually sliding the fitting faces of first housing 811 and second housing 911 until convex insertion portion 912 comes to enter into the concave portion of projecting portion 822.
At this stage, on the fitting face of first housing 811, only the tapered portion is formed in the entrance corner portion of the concave portion formed in the respective projecting portion 822. Moreover, on the fitting face of second housing 911, only the tapered portion is formed on each of the front corner portions of the convex insertion portion 912. However, there is no specific member for facilitating the entering of convex insertion portion 912 into the concave portion of projecting portion 822. For this reason, when the fitting face of first housing 811 is made to slide on the fitting face of second housing 911, first and second terminals 861, 961 are brought into abutting contact, and may rub against each other, potentially causing damage. This increases both the difficulty and time to perform the fitting operation.